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Altavista
Once you download & install it, you will have
to fill out a survey about yourself, your interests,
etc., before you can sign on. This is so the advertising
they send through the MicroPortal, will fit your interests.
This is how they are able to provide it to you for
Free. You do get unlimited access but, you must interact
with the MicroPortal periodically to stay online for
more than about an hour, there is a Time-meter to let
you know when you are getting low, & they will warn
you if you are getting low & forget to check the
meter, that's nice, all you have to do is hit one or
two, of the buttons on the MicroPortal (depending on
how low you are) & you get a "full tank"
again.
Right now AltaVista doesn't have their own Email,
but they do make it easy to sign up for a free basic
e-mail account through Mail.com. You can also choose
to sign up for more services for about $30.00 a year,
but it isn’t necessary.
Netzero
One of the first FREE Internet Service providers
Mrs. Wizard experimented with. It has come a long way
in the last two years, from a service she would only
recommend to fellow geeks. They had to be willing to
endure frequent computer lockups, where the only cure
was to do a complete shutdown, restart and hope for
the best. NetZero has developed however, into a fine
alternative for frequent net surfers who don’t
want to pay an arm and a leg for Internet access each
month.
The reliability is comparable to all the major Internet
service providers you would pay for. Of course, since
it is FREE, you want to make sure you are extra polite
to the phone techs if you have any problems and need
to call.Signing up for NetZero service will involve
answering a few questions about your habits, preferences,
and general lifestyle.
These are used (yes, this is the catch) to target the
advertising you will see in the Zeroport advertising
bar to match your specific needs. You might be surprised
to find that the shopping links in Net Zero can end
up saving you time and money in the long run. Internet
shopping has arrived!
You will really appreciate it when you need a last
minute gift for an out of town friend or relative, or
somehard to find item for yourself. There is a lot more
than just advertising on the ZeroPort. It can be customized
to give you local news, as well as track your favorite
stocks. There is also a direct link to your personalized
NetZero e-mail account, another freebie with NetZero.
You can have NetZero sent to you on a CD by calling
1-888- 279- 8132. There is a $3.50 shipping and handling
charge. If you already have access to the Internet,
you can read all about NetZero and download it for FREE
at http://www.netzero.net. Once downloaded and installed,
the software will periodically update itself when you
log on, so you can always be sure to have the latest
version.
It really is a terrific way to surf the Internet folks.
If you find that it works for you and you want to keep
your AOL account, you can use NetZero as your Internet
Service Provider, change your AOL billing to “Bring
Your Own Access”, and cut your AOL bill down to
$9.95 a month.
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